Flight cancellations and where to go in 2026
The point of it all, #3.
Good morning! Be careful in the snow today, and don’t go out if you don’t have to. More on the weather in a bit.
First of all, I’d like to give a shout-out to my extremely hard-working colleagues on the travel team. They released their big “Where to go in 2026” list, featuring 17 unique destinations around the globe.
In the Western Hemisphere, the travel team picked cities like Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Miches, Dominican Republic. Meanwhile, in the Eastern Hemisphere, they’ve chosen locations like the Kvarner Gulf in Croatia and the entire country of Malaysia. The only continent that doesn’t appear on the list is Antarctica, actually.
Personally, I’ve been to a whopping three of these spots, and all three of them are in the US of A — Asheville, North Carolina; Seattle; and Philadelphia.
One thing that connects all three cities is that they all have FANTASTIC music scenes. Not that you come to this newsletter for music recommendations, but if you happen to find yourself in any of these cities any time soon, do a quick sweep to see who might be in town. I was absolutely shocked and delighted to find out that Washington’s own Death Cab for Cutie had a show in town the last time I was in Seattle, for their 20th anniversary tour of “Plans,” nonetheless. IYKYK!
Here’s me after the show last year, which happened to be right by Pike Place Market. It is much quieter at night, which I find kind of cool.
PRO TIP: Use those credit card perks if you have them! I actually found the DCFC tickets in the Capital One app entertainment portal — I saw tickets cheaper than face value if you can believe it, and this was within a few days of the show. And yes, you can use your points if you’d like, though let’s be real … You can find better value for those Capital One points if you transfer them elsewhere.
In the aviation industry, the airlines are in a turf war in Chicago. The airlines being American Airlines and United Airlines — they’re both currently trying to be the top dog at O’Hare International Airport. I’m half joking, but in all seriousness, both airlines are really pushing to not fall behind in terms of gates.
“We’re not going to allow [American] to win a single gate at our expense in 2026. We’re going to add as many flights as are required to make sure that we keep our gate count the same in Chicago. We’re just going to stay focused.” — United’s CEO Scott Kirby
Lastly, if you’ve been following along with what I’ve deemed Biltapalooza, Bilt’s new cards are still causing a bit of a kerfuffle in the points world while it continues making changes to its program here and there. Here’s our latest news about the Bilt Cash system, which honestly seems like it could be pretty cool once you figure out how to use it. One of the TPG writers is going “all in,” she says, on Bilt’s Palladium card this year, so I will be closely following her journey.
Stay warm out there, folks, and if you’re traveling right now, keep an eye out for changes in your airline apps. We’re seeing airlines cancel over 12,000 flights through the weekend, so better to stay safe than sorry.
 | A guest post by
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Really great pics.